The Railway Board on Sunday detailed the sequence of events unfolded on Friday that led to one of the deadliest train accidents in Balasore, Odisha. Over 250 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in the accident.
The Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore is a four-line station, explained Jaya Varma Sinha, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board while addressing a press conference.
There are two main lines in the middle and two loop lines on either side. On both the loop lines, goods trains loaded with iron ore were there, she said.
“Both the Coromandel Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express was running at the allowed speed limit. Therefore there was no overspeeding,” Sinha said.
The Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express was travelling from Chennai to Howrah at a speed limit of 128 kmph, while Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express was travelling towards Howrah at a speed of 130 kmph.
According to the preliminary findings, there has been some issue with the signalling. “We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety,” she said.
The Railways also said that only Coromandel Express got derailed. “The goods train did not get derailed. Since the goods train was carrying iron ores, the maximum damage of the impact was on Coromandel Express. This is the reason for a huge number of deaths and injuries. The derailed bogies of Coromandel Express came on the down line, and hit the last two bogies of Yashwantpur Express which was crossing at the speed of 126 km/h from down line,”said Sinha, reported ANI.
Meanwhile, the restoration works are progessing along the tracks. The“down main line has been restored at 12:05 hours”, tweeted Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Also, the death toll was revised to 275 on Sunday. Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said that the data was checked by the deputy magistrate and it was found that some bodies have been counted twice, so the death toll have been revised to 275. Out of 275, 88 bodies have been identified, he said.
“Out of the Out of 1,175 injured, 793 have been discharged after treatment,” Jena, told ANI.
Our State forensic science laboratory is also conducting DNA tests of all the bodies that are in mortuary, he added.
Meanwhile, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a probe into the triple train accident by an expert panel headed by a retired judge of the apex court.
The PIL also sought guidelines and directions for the implementation of the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) System called 'Kavach' protection system in Indian Railways with the immediate effect to ensure public safety.
Earlier, the Railways Minister clarified that the accident had nothing to do with the lack of anti-collision 'Kavach' system. 'Kavach' controls the speed of the train by automatic application of breaks in case the loco pilot fails to do so.